CULTIVATING EMPATHY FOR SYRIAN REFUGEE CHILDREN ON BEHALF OF TURKISH CLASSROOM TEACHERS

This qualitative study aimed to design and implement an activity that would cultivate empathy in 20 classroom teachers living in Gaziantep, Sanliurfa, Hatay and Ankara who are currently teaching refugee students in their classroom. Based on the multicultural education perspective, students from different backgrounds both enrich the learning environment and necessitate teachers to integrate the cultural and subjective experiences of the students into their teaching practices. Recently, refugee population in Turkey has been gradually increasing and more refugee students take part in the Turkish education system. Most of those students had challenging and difficult life experiences, most of which have the potential to have adverse effects on educational outcomes. To arouse empathy for the children students with such experiences, 8 real-life scenarios were presented to the teachers and they were asked to reflect on the psychological world of the students in each scenario. Moreover, the teachers were requested to elaborate on their roles in facilitating the educational environment and development of those children. The evaluations and feedbacks of the teachers indicated that they made a valuable connection with the inner worlds of those children, who are their actual students in real life as well.